LogFAQs > #901678849

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Well, damn. That was really, really good. Going in, I was a little worried that my general pop culture awareness that the Winter Soldier was Bucky would ruin it for me a little bit, but honestly, that was far from what truly made this movie great anyway.

So much about this movie works. I think the biggest thing that jumps out to me is that it dips a toe in Bioshock-esque waters regarding questioning who we implicitly trust and why, although its less blatant about it. It is amazing how we can hear Fury describe Insight and think okay, a little extreme but I get it, and then when we hear a villain describe exactly the same thing, its obvious world domination villainy. The same goes for the Senator describing how sometimes you have to burn the old world down a little bit to let the new world grow; you understand what hes saying when you think hes a good guy, and its Evil Nazi-speak when hes a bad guy. Really quite brilliant, and it mostly works because Hydra has evolved from zombie nazis to hey, things sure would be cleaner if we just eliminated everyone who would oppose a world order. One big purge and then peace and prosperity for ages. It almost makes sense, pragmatically, as monstrous as it is. Beyond that, it was really fascinating to watch Fury preach to Cap about living in the real world and not trusting everyone, immediately before being duped himself. Definitely the most thought-provoking MCU film so far.

I was also a little surprised to see Hydra resurface as having infiltrated SHIELD, but outright stunned by the ultimate decision that it was beyond saving and to burn the whole thing down. I really thought SHIELD and Fury at the helm would be a franchise staple, and its awesome, bold, and surprising to shift course so radically, demolish SHIELD, and establish Hydra as a potential overarching Big Bad. I had a suspicion Fury had faked his death, but I was even more glad to see it because Fury dying as SHIELD is dismantled would be super easy. Its more intriguing to see what his character does without the agency.

I love digging deep on this stuff, but I also just gotta say, holy SHIT were the action sequences in this movie spectacular. Just breathtaking. @Von_Miller had mentioned wondering if a certain scene would catch my eye, and Im not sure which he was referring to because there was a goddamned surplus of eye candy. The boat scene in the beginning, the elevator fight, Furys car chase, Cap demolishing the plane and flipping over it, literally everything Falcon does, ugh, just SO much stuff that was incredibly fun to watch. Theyve done an amazing job making Caps shield so freaking satisfying with every thud, reverberation, and ricochet. Its an audiovisual feast. Not to mention how visceral and crunchy every fight with Bucky was. You could feel that shit. I could gush for hours.

Speaking of, lets talk Bucky. Like I mentioned, I knew it was him unfortunately, but that barely impacted me. The thought of him being an assassin on ice for 50+ years is haunting, and the implication that he also may have killed Tonys parents is really alarming and I hope that is explored. Either way, its a fun element to inject into the universe, and the ultimate Im with you to the end of the line (or whatever it is) was heartbreaking. Cant wait for more of that. Special shoutout to his terrifying music cues. Really disturbing.

Okay, critiques... umm, Ill try. I still dont honestly love Natasha, though she got a little more depth in this movie, which was welcome. The Nazi scientist in the computer was effectively creepy but a little goofy. I wasnt totally sure where Natasha got face-impersonating tech, but I can let that go. Thats... kinda it. Damn. This was really good.

I almost forgot Alzheimers Peggy. That was heartbreaking. Hope we see more of her, I wish wed gotten a little more.

Whew.
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